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WESTLAND — Last season, the Livingston County wrestling teams combined for a respectable five winners and four runners-up at the KLAA individual tournament. This season, that number nearly doubled with Hartland, Brighton and Howell collectively owning 16 gold and silver medalists.

In all but one of the 14 weight classes — heavyweight being the only exception — the three schools had at least one wrestler contending for a league championship. Hartland led the way with seven winners, Brighton had two champs and a meet-high eight finalists, and Howell had one finalist.

“I was really pleased with the way we competed,” Brighton coach Tony Greathouse said.

“I’d say we thought we put it all together in one day and everybody wrestled well,” said Hartland coach Todd Cheney, whose team finished third in the league behind Brighton and Westland John Glenn.

For the Eagles, it was Merenuk who was perhaps the surprise of the day. The ninth-grade 103-pounder has had a solid campaign sitting with a 31-6 overall record, but seemingly took a giant step forward Saturday afternoon.

Merenuk began the day with an 18-4 major decision over Livonia Stevenson’s Ethan Barel, but he knew things would be getting tougher in the semifinals when Livonia Franklin’s Jager Kwiatkowski beat his opponent to set up a third showdown between the two.

“I felt pretty good about how my chart looked, but I knew I was going to have a few tough matches,” Merenuk said. “The Franklin kid beat me once, and I beat him once, and I just had to go out there and work my hardest.

“The time I lost, I was a little slow and didn’t move a whole lot and lost with five seconds left. It was a heartbreaker. So I knew I had to come out today and redeem myself.”

And that’s exactly what Merenuk did, getting a two-point takedown in the first period and then escaping later in the match for a 3-0 victory, which sent him to the finals to square off with Northville’s undefeated Brandon Liu (25-0).

That match proved to be Hartland freshman’s easiest of the day.

He handed Liu his first loss via technical fall, 20-4.

“He’s been super close to being really good,” Cheney said, “and he just poured it on today.”

“It’s actually a great accomplishment. It’s just awesome,” Merenuk said. “This gives me great confidence, too. I’m really happy with how I’ve done this year, but now the postseason is coming and I gotta be ready.”

Elsewhere, Kantola secured his first KLAA championship with a 5-2 triumph over Westland John Glenn’s Kyle Borthwell, who is ranked No. 8 at 125 and a reigning KLAA champ from last season. For Kantola (40-1), it was just his second victory without a fall.

“He needs to have some of those challenges right now,” Cheney said. “So to get put in a match like that was something good for the postseason.”

Shettler improved to 30-1, beating Brighton’s Berne in the finals, 8-2, while Cavanaugh, Nault and Potter also became first-time KLAA title winners. Culver won his second at 152, breezing to the championship with a pin and two tech falls.

For Brighton, Stevens downed Howell’s Wilson in the finals via a pin in 3:24, while Donabedian claimed a major decision, 13-1, in the championship round over Livonia Franklin’s Marino DiPonio.

“They were both pretty dominant throughout the day,” Greathouse said. “It’s really big for both of them, and it should give them confidence going into the postseason, especially as sophomores in upperclassmen weights. But they’ve proven throughout the year that they can wrestle with anybody in the state.”

Brighton will now travel to districts at Pinckney, where it will face the Pirates and, should it win, Howell in the finals. Hartland heads to Walled Lake Northern to square off against Lakeland and then the winner of Northern-Milford.